remnant

1[usually plural]a part of something that is left after the other parts have been used, removed, destroyed, etc.synonymremainsThe woods are remnants of a huge forest which once covered the whole area.Many of the traditions are remnants of a time when most people worked on the land.

2a small piece of cloth that is left when the rest has been sold

Word OriginMiddle English: contraction of obsolete remenant from Old Frenchremenant, from remenoir, remanoir

‘remain’

.Extra examplesThe museum is one of the last remnants of the 17th-century palace.Their outdated attitudes are a remnant from colonial days.faint remnants of the city’s glorious pastthe tattered remnants of the flagThe institution is a remnant from the past.The remnants of the huge mirror lay shattered around the floor.They ousted the landowners, who were the last remnants of the Roman Empire.the remnants of a forest/​an empire/​an army